Competitive Edge mentality moves you closer to delight your customer and get them to rave about you

Competitive Edge Research

The goal of competitive research is to learn what digital marketing strategies are working for your competitors and beyond. We want to know what delights customers and visitors in online and offline properties. We are not necessarily looking for new gizmos and gadgets. We want to discover simple ways some cities encourage their population to use public transport.

You must collect boring competitive edge data. Google Analytics from your own website can reveal a lot about your own traffic. Granted you have significant amount of traffic. Are you satisfying them? Are they digging deeper into your website. How many pages do they visit before leaving. Where are they coming from? Which data satisfies which KPIs?

Comparative Website Audits tell where you stack up against your closest competitor. Running frequent audits reveal who is making strides in what direction. You then decide if their movements are alligned with your thinking. Decide if you should follow, or stay on your course your vision. Frequent data reveals who’s plans are working. Try not to make decisions based on your thoughts. Always test. You can always pivot before the gaps grow too large. Toyota Scion xA versus xB is a classic reason why you should test both ideas.

Have someone on the team keep an eye on the competition. You can do this within your staff or hire an independent person to give you reports. Please view the reports to tighten your focus or re-allign your vision,

The best competitive edge ideas come from other industries.

Social Media Competitive Edge Research

B2C commodities and services social media research is easier than B2B.

End consumers like to display their purchases. You want to know how well your online competitors are engaging with their audience on social media. You can also see what offers work best. I am not an advocate for copying offers. You must see how your business culture can deliver a better user experience on different fronts. In other words… looking at what followers complain about the most give clues how you can please them. (There’s more to marketing than price slashing) Check out every social media channel out there including Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Look beyond your local borders.

Determine whether your competitors see Social Media as important or not. If they are consistent and successful on Facebook. You should have a presence there too. If they are not on Instagram. Do research for your industry beyond your geographical borders see if other companies are doing well on Instagram. (having likes is not the only clue you are looking for) Tools like SEMrush and Ahref can tell you their traffic sources.

If you sell to Businesses your source of Social Media strategies is on LinkedIn and Twitter. If your keyword research tells you many people are searching for your business and your competition is not on LinkedIn. You’ve found yourself a golden ticket.

Content Marketing Competitive Edge Research

The content is stored on your website. When consumers in your industry search for your goods or services Google serves up pages. Do you have pages with the relevant content consumers want the answers for? What are your competitors” websites look like? Do they have downloadable content? Do they have give-aways to entice customers to leave their contact information. In today’s world consumers want quick answers. If a couple wants to write a simple will… give them a template. Give them the docs they require to come to your office with. Everyone appreciates when you save them time and you eliminate frustrations. These are simple ways to show you care.

Take Advantage of Competitive Edge Research

  • Use insights to improve your digital footprint
  • Use it to communicate better, faster, and easier with consumer
  • Create a positioning chart of yourself and your top 3-4 competitors with specific goals, KPIs, marketing strategies (online Ads, SEO, Content, Social Media, etc.) Review weekly in tools like SEMrush and Ahref where you are notified whenever your competitors:
    • Rank for a new keyword
    • improve their ranking for a relevant keywords
    • Gain new backlinks from trusted sources
    • Add new content to their website

Which Tactic Above Gives The Best Competitive Edge Research

Who is your customer? A marketing team answers to their boss who eventually answers to the owner or the board members. The man at the top wants the consumers to buy from him. What am I getting at? The best marketing strategy for you to adopt today is the one that will entice your customer to buy from you rather than the competition. What keeps you and your brand in front of the consumer. What keeps your buyer returning to your store or brand? What in your product or service will delight your buyer enough to tell their friends about their experience from enquiry to research to decision? With the new normal of online purchasing and social distance purchasing your competition is closer than you think. Focus on your research to find what will give you the competitive edge